Looks like the tree is suffering from a common mandarin ailment called alternate bearing. It overloads one year with tiny fruit and skips the next year's production entirely. Citrus experts claim the best defense is to fertilize extra heavy on heavy bearing years. I have been experimenting with fruit thinning on heavy producing years, and have had some success, on several varieties. Take at least 1/3 of the crop off of a heavy fruit set. Take 1/2 off if you can. This is really hard to do and you have to be able to give your tree "tough love". You may even feel like you're so bad as if you were stomping on baby chickens, pulling off all those tiny fruit, but they will be larger, and juicier, and a lot easier to pick and will look better to boot. I thin twice. First time when they are about 3/8 to 1/2 inch dia. and again at about 1 inch for small mandarins. As for the fungus, I would take a few leaves to your county (Co-operative) Extension agent, and get a rec. for spray. Larry

I made my first batch of marmalade today!!!!! While it isn't going to be the best in the world since I had to use navel oranges (all that were available), it's still better than the cheap stuff on the grocery shelves. It was rather tedious trying to get the (uncooked) peels cut into the small strips I wanted. Finally, I put the peels into my food processor with the attachment that chews up carrots for carrot salad. It was still a difficult part of the process because they just didn't come out right. So the result was very large and very small pieces of the peeling in the marmalade. However, that's all right for the first time. When we've finished eating this batch, I think I'll just put the oranges in my food processor and chop them up coarsely after squeezing the pulp and juice into the pot. Then the seeds can go into a muslin bag and be cooked with the lot! Since I have so much of it and I don't put it into jam-jars for safe-keeping, I've decided to freeze it in pint containers. Ruthie, Thanks for the idea. One of my favorite cakes of all time is a Pig-Pickin' cake, which uses mandarin oranges in the cake itself and crushed pineapple in the frosting with the juice carefully poured on the cake layers with holes punched in them. I think I'll spread the marmalade on top of the cake and maybe even spread the pineapple icing on top of that.

This is from a previous post on Harvest for anyone who wants to try the marmalade I mentioned above. The recipe is from June Taylor. The marmalade turned out excellent, perfect set, tender and not tough. I got 8 jars total but those Weck jars are about 7.4 oz., not 8. I think for prep this is the most troublesome marmalade Ive ever made but the quality and texture of the final product justifies the work. (I definitely wouldnt feel the same if itd turned out less well, LOL.) I dont know how June Taylor makes this commercially viable. If I did it Id charge about $30 per jar! Grapefruit-and-Meyer-Lemon Marmalade 5 pounds grapefruit, rinsed 5 Meyer lemons or small regular lemons, rinsed 1/2 cup lemon juice (from 2 to 3 additional lemons) 2 1/2 pounds sugar. 1. Remove the grapefruit skin with a vegetable peeler. Cut the peel into 1/8-inch slivers; stop when you have 3/4 cup. Discard the rest. Slice off the ends of the grapefruit and the remaining grapefruit peel and pith. Remove grapefruit segments, reserving membrane. Stop when you have 5 cups of segments. 2. Cut the ends off the Meyer lemons, deep enough so you can see the flesh. Leaving the peel on, remove the segments of lemon and reserve the membrane. Cut the segments crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces. Put membranes from the grapefruit and Meyer lemons in a jelly bag and tie closed. 3. In a wide and deep pot, combine the grapefruit segments, grapefruit peel, lemon pieces and jelly bag. Add lemon juice and 2 1/2 cups water. Simmer until the grapefruit peel is tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool. 4. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Working over a bowl in your sink, squeeze the liquid from the jelly bag; keep squeezing and wringing it out until you extract 1/3 to 1/2 cup of pectin. Add pectin and sugar to the pot. Place over high heat and boil, stirring now and then, until marmalade is between 222 and 225 degrees and passes the plate test. (Spoon a little onto a plate and put in the fridge for 3 minutes. If it thickens like jam, it is done.) 5. Meanwhile, put 6 sterilized 8-ounce canning jars and lids on a baking sheet and place in the oven. When jam is done, remove jars from the oven. Ladle jam into the jars, filling them as high as possible. Wipe the rims. Fasten the lid tightly. Let cool. If you don't get a vacuum seal, refrigerate the jam. Makes 6 8-ounce jars of marmalade. Adapted from June Taylor. I did change the process a bit for more control. I cooked step 3, wrung out the pectin and removed the bag, then added the sugar and let the mixture sit in the fridge overnight. Im slow and by the time Id prepped everything and cooked the fruit and peels with water I was done for the day. Next day I cooked on medium-low to dissolve sugar then on medium high until the fruit was translucent. This recipe needed minimal skimming. Then I let it sit overnight. Next day drain fruit and cook syrup to jell point, add fruit back in and cook a bit longer to return to jell point. Then I let it sit 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to distribute fruit and prevent float. Then process BWB 10 minutes. Also, to cut the Meyer lemon wedges with the peel I cut the ends off the lemons then again in half at the equator. Then I cut the wedges down between the membranes. I didnt see how I could visually control the cutting with a whole lemon as the instructions directed. Grapefruit Marmalade I ended up with a lot of extra peel, so I candied some and marinated the remainder in a mixture of half rum half homemade Meyer lemon liqueur (pseudo limoncello) to use in baking. That was a suggestion from zemmaj on Harvest. Jar on the right is brined Meyer lemons with pink peppercorns (from Aglaia Kremezi). Carol

I agree with Cathy, the clemintines would make a really nice marmalade. I made some with Honey Bells once and it was really good, my last batch I made from tangerines that donna (lacksboys3) sent me. That was really good too. I've also made marmalade with key limes (a PIA, but good) and Meyer lemons and a couple of times with grapefruit. I also have Doris' recipe for the peach/orange marmalade with hot peppers, that's good and different. Cathy, that marmalade looks perfect, nice and thick with the peel not floating. I'll bet it WOULD be good on Lou's cheesecake! Annie